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Open Poetry #46
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Another Poem's Back Story (a repost in memoriam)
| Open Poetry #46 |
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Another Poem's Back Story (a repost in memoriam) |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows 
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It was raining when I found you, three decades having passed since the dreary afternoon you never asked where I had gone. When we first met you pushed your way into my world, a world where others are just furniture, or assets, or obstacles, or targets, a private world sealed and put aside where I can watch and never be taken by surprise. Raining too when we first met; your eye was quick, your mind was sharp, a partner I thought did not exist. Do you remember what you said to me? You said life is free Old Hoss, it is the taking that's expensive. Then with a wink and just a hint of smile you slipped back on the line having touched a thought I'd had since I was young, but never shared with anyone, an idea I didn't know I'd dropped until you just stepped up to me knowing it was mine and handed it right back. It was raining also in the early night we both lost track of common reference points. You went left I went right, after having chosen without words to take the fight back where it belonged. The rain had stopped when I awoke, eight thousand miles from darkness filled with smoke blood screams and death, I was short of breath and full of dope, bound and almost gagged without any sense of who or what I was. Beyond any sense of hope. The walls stark white, with lights that seemed always to be left on. In time when I could speak, and ask, I was told you were already gone. Gone without another word. I grew old but when I could I prowled through places tagged in memory, in river towns cutting through mountains in the stories I recalled, stories you shared in waiting times, of growing up without shoes, times when listening to the blues was like birthday cake for ears, jokes about hunting, fishing when the only fears were being caught stealing dinner from the bears; you were the only man I knew except me without souvenirs, or pictures, or letters from whatever passed for home, so looking took remembering the details, little threads between the lines in images we shared learning to be friends. Like pixels on a screen. random nonsense at the start, as they fill at some point the story can be seen; so one day the thoughts connected, I found the tiny mountain town where what was left had been given to the ground, and I touched the shadow, of a friend whose life I carry in my heart. ©2004,2010 by icebox |
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| © Copyright 2010 icebox - All Rights Reserved | |||
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miscellanea Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060OH |
icebox, A very touching write. Thank you for sharing it. miscellanea |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
This man so deeply carved within your heart, must have been special, like you are. |
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ThisDiamond Member Rara Avis
since 2002-02-22
Posts 9353Michigan, USA |
Deeply touched...this magnificent shadow has been a story told by close kin, of Vietnam and eternal brotherhood. |
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1slick_lady Member Ascendant
since 2000-12-22
Posts 6088standing on a shadow's lace |
i adore you and your poetry you leave me breathless |
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threadbear Senior Member
since 2008-07-10
Posts 817Indy |
Quite special, Icebox. If Hemingway could write poetry, it would be like this. |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
I have no words for this,but I am touched. latearrival |
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